The Internet has become the fastest new medium to reach 60% of U.S. households in recorded history—much faster than the penetration of telephone, radio, television, or cable TV. In addition, time spent on the Internet is currently the fastest-growing segment of media usage. As the Internet continues to grow in accessibility and breadth, it is becoming an increasingly important tool for business. Accordingly, the widespread availability of the Internet has made it a valuable resource for salespeople and for prospective customers alike.
Several methods of using the Internet to sell an asset have arisen. In one method, a salesperson—herein defined as any type of sales entity, such as for example one or more individuals, or a legal entity such as a corporation—may use a web site for advertising assets for sale. In another method, the salesperson may also advertise assets or may provide selection criteria (such as a search term or other means of selecting assets to view, or an asset listing itself) for an asset that another salesperson is selling. When a consumer selects such an asset or criterion by “clicking” on a tag or link in a webpage (herein referred to as a “click”), the salesperson who is actually selling the asset receives a sales lead, and in return a referral fee is generated for the salesperson whose web site generated the lead. Referral fees may be generated when the lead is generated, when the sale is completed, or in any other manner agreed to by the salespeople. In this way, a salesperson may reach a broader consumer audience for the sale of an asset, at the cost of providing a referral fee. A problem with this method is that a web site operated by an individual salesperson, or even several web sites operated by one or more salespeople, will most likely have a low number of consumer visits because such salespeople lack the advertising budget or ability to gain widespread awareness of their web sites.
Most consumers, however, visit a well-known major web site to search for an asset the consumer wishes to purchase. Such a major web site enjoys a large number of visitors, and advertises assets for sale either as a primary or secondary purpose. In other words, a major web site may have a large number of visitors to its sales advertising area, but the primary purpose of the web site—and the primary reason the web site is well known—may be for another purpose unrelated to such sales. Such a major web site may list many or all of the assets in the class of assets the consumer desires. In one situation, the major web site owns the asset and will sell it directly to the consumer. In such a situation, the major website is no different than the salesperson with a web site as discussed above, albeit with a larger number of visitors. In another situation, however, the major web site is providing a lead to a salesperson who owns or is affiliated with the asset in return for a referral fee. In such a situation, the major website is capitalizing on its large number of visitors by advertising assets that will actually be sold by a salesperson, in return for receiving a referral fee from the salesperson. In this way, the major web site may earn income in the form of referral fees, without having to expend the energy or resources involved with actually selling the asset.
The real estate industry provides an example of the aforementioned discussion of web site-provided referrals, because the real estate industry has sought to take advantage of the burgeoning use of the Internet by consumers searching for a home. According to a National Association of Realtors survey, more than 66% of homebuyers start a search for a home on the Internet. A consumer searching for a home listing generally wants access to all available listings and extensive local information when contemplating a move or home purchase. Accordingly, a home search is well suited to a database-backed web site that allows a consumer to search home listings using specific criteria on homes and locales.
The automobile industry provides another example. A consumer seeking to purchase a new or used vehicle may wish to search the Internet for listings of vehicles having desired features, price and location within a geographic area. A consumer performing such a search typically wants to see all of the vehicles meeting the specified criteria. Again, and as discussed above, such a need for information is well suited to a database-backed web site.
Returning to the aforementioned real estate example, most real estate agents use a web site and email to conduct business. Under the terms under which multiple listing systems operate—called the “Internet Data Exchange” (IDX)—any agent who participates in a multiple listing service may advertise a listing whether or not that particular agent is the “listing agent” for that listing. Heretofore, only an agent associated with the property listing was permitted to advertise the home associated with the listing. While the IDX provides an improved source of leads for real estate agents, a web site operated by a particular real estate agent or even a real estate agency is still likely to have a small number of visitors, especially when compared to a major real estate web site. Therefore, a real estate agent's ability to advertise listings for which the real estate agent is not the listing agent is offset by the low probability of receiving visitors to the real estate agent's web site. Likewise, in the automobile example discussed above, an automobile dealership web site is also likely to have a relatively small volume of visitors. If the expenses of affiliating with a major web site could be tailored to each salesperson's budget, a salesperson would benefit from the greater public exposure provided by a major web site.
Unfortunately for a salesperson with a limited advertising budget, a major web site usually provides a lead to a salesperson who has agreed to pay the highest referral fee, or for other valuable consideration. Typically, the major web site will agree to provide a lead to a specific salesperson for a set time period. Any consumer who visits the web site and selects an asset that is subject to the agreement will be referred to that salesperson. A shortcoming of such a scheme is that a salesperson who has limited advertising funds and has been outbid for leads from the major web site will not be able to receive leads from the major web site for the duration of the agreement. As a result, the salesperson has lost an opportunity for receiving leads, and the major web site has lost an opportunity for receiving additional referral fees from the outbid salesperson.
A conventional major web site currently lacks the ability to refer a lead for a single listing to more than one real estate agent in a dynamic manner. Typically, one salesperson—such as an individual or a corporation—will purchase all the leads available from the major web site for an agreed-upon period of time. Because all of the leads are consumed by a single entity, the web site again loses potential income from other salespeople. In addition, the referral fee for the web site is most likely lower than it would be if several real estate agents could constantly compete for leads from the web site on an ongoing basis.
In summary, in any business environment where there is equal access to information, such as in the current real estate or automobile industry, the most successful business is generally one that reaches a consumer at the point of need with the information sought by the consumer. Historically, a minority of the general population of consumers is in the process of purchasing a major asset, such as a home or automobile, at any given time. Compounding this problem is the low probability of a salesperson who uses his or her own web site ever reaching a substantial percentage of consumers who are in the market for the asset the salesperson is attempting to sell. A major web site in this situation will receive the majority of consumer visits, but lacks a method of distributing leads among a plurality of salespeople, thereby limiting profitability because of the lack of competition. A salesperson also suffers from this shortcoming, because a salesperson with a small advertising budget will most likely always be outbid for lead provided by a major web site. Even if a salesperson with a small advertising budget is able to acquire leads from a major web site, the time period over which the leads will be distributed will likely be short because of the salesperson's limited budget. Thus, a salesperson with a small advertising budget will only be able to receive leads from a major web site on an intermittent basis, if at all.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method that overcomes the limitations and drawbacks set forth above. Namely, what is needed is a method and system for assigning linking information to an asset listing or selection criterion on a web site in a manner that enables a plurality of salespeople to be associated with the asset listing or criterion over a given period of time. What is also needed is a method and system for dynamically assigning linking information of a plurality of salespeople to such listing or criterion so a plurality of salespeople may receive leads over a given period of time.